Week 3: Object Oriented Programming

So far in CSC148 we have focused on object oriented programming. This means that rather than solving problems by creating various functions to carry out actions on the standard set of objects in python (lists, integers, dictionaries, etc.) we sought to create classes with methods within them that can be called to act on the class that we created. I saw this as a different approach to solving a similar problems in python and possibly other programming languages.

This 3rd week of CSC148 we have focused on class inheritance and multiple class inheritance, which is a technique that can be used in python on new classes that can inherit all the methods of a past class if the past class's name is entered instead of self in the argument when creating a new class. I initially found the ideas of multiple inheritance and using the super() function to help with it very confusing, even with the help of the readings. The lecture on Wednesday the 22nd of January really helped clear things up and luckily I am now able to understand it.

I also had a very successful experience with the lab this week. Focusing on creating Stack and Queue classes me and my partner managed to finish the lab almost half an hour early, while also cutting down the run time of the Queue class from our initial attempts at it. The fact that we did that is a good sign for me as I see the abilities to cut down run time and achieve better code styling and design as very useful skills in computer science.

In the earlier weeks before we had to write this SLOG we had looked at python efficiency and design, with the help of lectures and the "How to Code like a Pythonista" reading, recursive functions, which I found to be very easy to understand with Professor Heap's explanation, as well as restriction access of our code to other programmers, although it is more like a polite request than outright restriction.

All in all the course has been very informative so far, I have already learned many new concepts and ideas and increased my proficiency with others, such as class construction. While labs were difficult for me in CSC108 I find in this course with them being in an actual lab setting rather than me being on my laptop in my room they have become easier and I am learning more from them.

Until next week,
Max Isakov